Volume 1 - Chapter 12 - Failure/Success

"What the deus?! Everyone! Get behind me!"

I gather all the students into a crouching position before setting up walls of ice and earth between us and the fireballs.

*DOOON rinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn* *gara gara gara gara*

There is a deafeningly loud explosion, leading to a constant ringing in my ear. I couldn't hear anything aside from a droning hum, but I can feel the earth rumbling continuously as each of the fireballs land.

How the hell did it turn out like this?

*goaaaa*

After the rumbling stopped, I release the walls which tumble onto the floor before disappearing. I turn to ask if everyone's alright, but I couldn't even hear myself talk. The three of them are giving me a mix of looks. I grab each of them and give them a quick inspection. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that no one's hurt. I think Dosnak is in minor shock, but he seems to have snapped out of it after I grab him by the face and stare at him reassuringly. There's a mix of fear, shock, and something else I can't really determine in their eyes. Getting up rather unsteadily -did the explosions affect my inner ear as well?- I look in the direction of the outpost.

*fyuuu*

I nearly stumble from the wind that's trying to drag me forward. I feel a chill down my spine with all my hair standing up on its end. Before me, a towering fire tornado dances within a crater where the outpost once was. I double check my stats and MP, there's no changes aside from my MP nearing zero. I can cast 13 fireballs with my current MP, but that doesn't explain the size nor destructive power from the ones just now.

One of the students tugs me by the sleeve, trying to get my attention. He's pointing toward the handful of people approaching the inferno from the south with his mole-like claws, probably the few defenders from within another outpost.

This isn't what was planned... but... let's not waste this opportunity.

I kneel down and grab the short student by the shoulders, I pointed at him and then the other two students in turn. Showing him a running motion with my fingers, I point toward the hideout where we have been staying. The boy nods and helps his fellow classmate up and evacuate, he turns back before pointing at me and then spreads his hand. Is he asking what I'm going to do? I point toward the approaching figures before I swing the finger across the front of my throat, he widens his eyes before nodding and resumes walking away. Will they be alright? They aren't walking in a straight line, but if it's the three of them, even wild beasts won't be a problem for them even if they are unsteady.

First things first, how should I be hide these?

I look at my surrounding, there are tall bushes everywhere with few paths. Since people normally wouldn't walk here anyways, I guess throwing the bag on the canopy should be enough.

*goso*
*kasa kasa kasa kasa*

I tie an unfurled blue cloth to one of my packs and then throw most of my packs with anything of value onto the top of some bushes. Afterward, I fill some of my empty packs with branches and leaves.

The world has mostly stopped spinning, but I stare into the horizon to hopefully help me regain my balance. I guess this is as good a time as any... I am not quite sure if they will hear this, but they were further down, nearer to the other outpost, so they should be fine. "Bell-ne, I'm not sure if you can hear me, I can't hear anything for a while, so don't bother replying. I am going to gather whatever I can from the ruin and draw the survivors' attention and kill them off if I can. Use this time to finish off the people inside the Blades' outpost."

Hmm... I should go for quick kills. So baton in front, shortsword in back this time.

I walk toward the towering inferno while looking around continuously, I will have to rely on my sight to spot any enemies, best be cautious and avoid any potential ambush.

* * * * *

"Shit, there goes the plan for attrition." Bell and Rick had gotten up from the floor after the impromptu dive. Since there were many bushes and they were quite a bit away from the explosions, they didn't suffer any damage from debris or the shockwave that followed. They immediately tried to contact both Till and Kun, but only Till replied that she's on her way back to the hideout as planned.

"Can you get through to Kun, Rick." Bell is staring at the twisting flame further to the north-northwest where the other outpost used to be. Rick grabs her arm suddenly, causing her tail to stand straight up. "Wha-" Before she can say anything, Rick puts a finger to his lip and points at the shadows coming out from the remaining outpost. He silently picks up the longbow that had been flung to the floor and begins notching an arrow. This time it was Bell's turn to grab him by the arm.

She leans in and starts whispering in a soft voice, "Kun is still alive, can't hear anything though, he's going to buy us some time, told us to get in there and take care of the remaining users."

"Can we do it? There shouldn't be many left inside, but more might log in if the survivors manage to get a message out." He whispers just as quietly.

"Bring the bare minimum, we might die, but we will sure as hell make them pay." Bell silently activates «Metal Claws» and digs a hole, throwing all her non-essential items into it. Aside from a few potions and her armour, everything is inside. Rick follows by throwing in almost everything save for the long bow, a quiver of arrows, a harness of daggers and some potions. Just as silently, she fills the hole up. Cutting the back of her left paw lightly with her right, she drips a few drops of blood onto the ground to mark the spot.

It would be ideal for Rick to be in infiltration gear, but beggars can't be choosers. As such, Bell leads the way with her fur being changed to midnight blue with Rick trailing along about ten paces back. They make their way to the backgate of the outpost, about 2 dozen users came out from the front gate already. It's safe to say that they were either stupefied by the fire tornado or thought they had won the battle since they paid no attention to their surroundings.

The two reach the backgate without any incidents, Bell makes a gesture of getting on top of the wall and jumps up onto the rampart. Seeing the coast is clear, she tries to find a way for Rick to come up as well.

"Damn it, Cat Warrior is almost cheating, what's up with that jumping power." The youth complains while thinking of a way up. Thinking of the stupid things they have done, he remembers the pole licking incident. Smiling, he sticks a hand onto the wall and covers it with ice, reaching up with his other hand, he freezes it as well, then his feet follows soon after. He then releases the ice on the first hand, causing it to crack, fall off the wall and disappear before hitting the ground. Rotating the freezing and unfreezing in a cycle with his limbs to climb up, he repeats the process until he made it to the top.

Bell raises her eyebrows when he pulls himself over and stops tying the knots of cloth made out of flags that were planted on the rampart. She quickly nods her head toward one of the doors, although they don't have a blueprint for this outpost, her experience with raiding has given her a basic grasp of most fortifications in the region. Basically, sleeping quarters are always on the second floor.

*kara*
*kan*

"Shit! Tabeus was right!" A guard slashes at the door with his sword as soon as Bell opens it. She barely ducked in time, causing the guard to hit the metal brackets of the door.
"He-gu..."

A dagger with a silver sheen flies through the air, perfectly slicing into the guard's windpipe. The half-cat takes this chance to swing an uppercut with her left claw into the man's crotch before following up with an overhand thrust into his throat with her right claw, effectively finishing him off.

*Hiiiii*

There were 3 more guards placed in the quarters, one is a few paces away that the now dead guard was trying to talk to; who just screamed in an unmanly way. The pair of guards near the opposite of the room immediately place their right hands on their right ears, trying to get reinforcements.

Within a blink of an eye, Bell has gotten on all fours and leapt at the lone guard like a panther before several *gokin* sounds greet the room from his head and body.

*fyu fyu*

Two daggers fly from Rick's hands in the meantime, stabbing one in the throat and the other in the hand, effectively silencing their communication. The man slumps onto the floor holding his throat while the woman yanks the wooden knife, that somehow stabbed through her hand, out.

"Intruders! Everyone get over here!" The lone guard that can still speak yells for help.

*tatatata*

"You morons are going to regret messing with us." The remaining female guard has a nasty smirk on her face, ignoring her guildmate next to her. Running footsteps can be heard coming from down below.

"Shut her up and go lock the doors!" The felinoid goes from midnight blue back into its red colour, giving up on any pretense of stealth.

*DON GAAASHA"

She runs toward the bed nearest to the stairs, stabs the sleeping users in the throat and throws the bunk bed in the direction of the stairs. The sleeping quarter is one huge room easily 30 meters squared, they must have knocked out some walls to make it into a giant barracks.

The woman drops her smirk when she sees the raw strength of the catwoman and tries to open the door she and her partner were guarding. Unexpectedly, the man on the floor grabs onto her leg, pleading for help with his eyes.

*doka doka doka*

The woman gives the man several heavy stomps and tries to exit in a hurry, but Rick had already taken the chance to close up onto her. "«Antipode»!" With a quick series of strikes, the youth both freezes and burns the woman with his green aura, imbued daggers. Technically speaking, the woman is at a higher level than Rick. But with the combination of fear, distraction and Rick learning that level isn't everything from the Feian guards, he dispatches her with ease.

"Man, why are all the chicks in this game so violent." He quickly ends the stomped guard's misery.

Grabbing a nearby chair, he jams the door before freezing it. He does the same to the door where they entered from, before running off and sealing the other doors.

*GAAASHA*

Bell throws another bed at the stairs where a guard was brave enough to stick his head out of the bend.

"What should I do now?!"

"Start killing everyone in here! Don't worry about the loot, use the crystals right away!"

"Everyone? Shit!" Enchanting another pair of daggers with the metal attribute, the blonde youth starts slitting all the throats of the sleeping users and shatters the resulting crystals. Since all the forces of the [Monochrome Blades] have gathered their force into the outpost, there should be hundreds if not several thousands of users. Considering that the majority of them likely died in those fireballs, including the logged out users, there shouldn't be more than a few hundred combined in the entire outpost.

*dota*

Bell throws another bed into the staircase, but an earthen wall had sprang up, absorbing its impact.
"Shit, they got a mage."

*fyu*

A dagger flies across the room, planting itself to the hilt in a user's temple. "Shit! Some of them are logging in too!"

"Son of a... okay, you know what? Find the officer room and try and steal everything of value, there should be some bags in the room. Also, kill that son of a bitch." Remembering the betrayal has her blood boiling.

"On it!"

*bou bou*

Bell sets a bunk bed on fire and throws it at the entrance of the stairs. She repeats this to make a flaming barricade.

Rick dashes off to the door with the fancy handle, removes the chair and unseals the door. Slamming the door open, he sees several large chests locked with series of massive padlocks, various weapons mounted on the wall or set into stands, and the hated Keely sleeping on the large, ornate bed.

*guku*

Making quick work of the massive locks by rapidly applying ice and fire mana directly onto it, he pops the chests open with ease. The youth swallows hard as he stares at the sheer amount of gold, silver and gems before his eyes.

*shara shara*

He rummages through the dressers and cabinet, finally finding some backpacks and bags.

"Damn bastard, just how many rare equipments do you need. Hm... actually..."

*ka ka ka*

Rick strips the man covered in plate armour and stores everything into one of the backpacks.

*sha sha ki kiko*

The youth grabs some ropes and a bunch of lower class weapons and tied them elaborately onto the ceiling above the sleeping man and beside the bed. He then attaches the ropes to the sleeping figure. Satisfied, he starts looting up the place.


*chiin chiin chiin*

Into two bags, he fills it with all the gems, various scrolls, every piece of visible jewelry, and a few handfuls of gold coins. Taking all the gold would be ideal, but the sheer weight will be troublesome, especially with the set of plate armour.

Grabbing one more backpack, he stuffs it with expensive looking weapons after coating it with a thin sheet of ice. Quickly moving the 4 bags out of the door, he piles the remaining silver, gold, and equipment at the door and sets it on fire before exiting.

*goin basha don da da da don gasha*

Upon exiting the room, Rick sees Bell fighting a swordsman and throwing random things at the staircase while covered in blood. There are some bodies strewn all over the floor, seems like she had been busy. While looking around, he can see several more users trying to get up.

*pyu pyu pyu pyu pyu pyu pyu*

He releases a barrage of arrows, completely emptying his quiver. Although it wouldn't be enough to kill most of them, it would be enough to slow them down.

*kan*

"Let's get out of here!" The youth abandons his bow and slips on a backpack.

*Finally! «Elemental Dance»!" The busty felinoid stops throwing bunk beds and focuses on the user in front of her, unleashing a flurry of blows. Most of the strikes were blocked with the swordsman's shield, a few strikes land cleanly, stunning him. Taking this chance, Bell runs to the bags, slips a backpack on and grabs the two bags on the floor with her retracted claws. The two run toward one of the doors away from the staircase.

*DON DOKKAN*

The outpost shakes violently following the sound of explosions.